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The beach was a place of fun and relaxation. Warm sand, cool waves lapping at the shore, the hot sun shining—all perfectly wonderful for the person who enjoyed beach activities.
Alphinaud Leveilleur was not one of those people. That is to say, he liked being with his friends and liked staying in the shade, but he did not enjoy swimming or running in the sand. He had improved his swimming skills, yes, but that did not mean he liked to swim. After their adventure swimming out from the depths of the First, he never wanted to swim again.
Being at the beach also meant enduring a slathering of sunscreen, which Alisaie helped him apply while he did the same for her. “I feel like I am being covered in glue,” he complained, very much wishing he had been allowed to stay in the Rising Stones like Urianger. His sister hadn’t let him, however, and so here he was, having his back smeared with sunscreen. “I am going to be wearing a shirt over my back anyway, so what is the point of putting sunscreen on?”
“Just in case the sun still manages to burn you through your shirt, Brother Dearest. Now you do mine, and please don’t dally; the others have already gone into the water!” Alisaie shoved the bottle into his hand and he started to apply sunscreen on her skin. She was right, of course; G’raha Tia, Tataru, Thancred, Y’shtola, and Moonflower had all gone frolicking in the waves, each to their own tastes.
Tataru was wading through the waves, prodding at the sand curiously. Thancred had gone further out while Y’shtola floated closer to the shore. G’raha and Moonflower, meanwhile, were causing a ruckus with their splashing, and had apparently drawn some nearby beachgoers into their fun, making it an all out war that the other Scions were content to stay out of—unless Thancred decided to join in when they were least suspecting, Alphinaud conceded. Alisaie would most likely want to join the splashing, and he couldn’t deny that despite how silly it seemed, it also looked… fun.
It wasn’t enough to make him want to go into the water though. The ocean had currents, even near the shore, that could suck him under and drown him. For all the practice he had, for the improvement he’d made, he was still afraid of drowning and he knew his skill was not enough to save himself. Even with experienced swimmers around to help him should he need it did not make the fear any less real.
Alisaie jumped to her feet as soon as he declared her finished, but to his surprise, she turned back to him. “Are you sure you want to stay here?” she asked. “You could just do what Tataru’s doing, you know.” She genuinely sounded like she wanted to make sure he was enjoying himself.
Alphinaud waved a hand. “I brought a sketchbook with me,” he said, pointing at it. “I shall be quite entertained here.” After all, he liked to draw, and he wanted to show them to a friend later anyway.
She studied him for a moment before nodding. “All right, see you in a bit!” With that, she dashed to the others and was immediately caught up in the splash war that hadn’t abated.
He smiled fondly and then picked up his sketchbook and pencil. It hadn’t been a lie that he would be drawing. Later, perhaps, he would take a walk along the waves, but with the splashing that he was quickly trying to capture, he’d hold off on that for a while yet.
About five drawings later, he checked the position of the sun. It had moved rather far, and everyone was still in the water, although they had moved on to different activities. Alphinaud lowered his sketchbook, feeling a sudden longing to be with them in the water. He didn’t like swimming and wasn’t very good at it, but everyone doing something without him made him feel lonely. But would it be worth it to do something I don’t like to do, so I could be with everyone else? he pondered. His emotions were conflicted. Part of him said it would be because he would be with his friends and sharing in their laughter, but part of him insisted that it couldn’t possibly be worth the effort to keep his head up or the sensation that he was going to be swallowed up at any moment.
The compromise would be to go halfway. With some trepidation, Alphinaud set down his art supplies and got to his feet. Now would be a good time to just take a walk along the shore while the others were swimming. As he neared the waves, Alisaie waved. “Come to join us?” she called.
“Only a walk,” he called back. Already he felt better by being near them; the water lapped at his feet refreshingly and he could hear their voices behind him.
Odd, they were getting louder.
Alphinaud turned around to see Alisaie and Moonflower coming out of the ocean. “There’s no reason we can’t join you,” Moonflower said cheerfully by way of explanation. She flicked her tail to get rid of excess water. “It’s about time I got out of the water anyway.”
Alphinaud’s chest warmed and he smiled. “Had your fill of splashing people?”
“G’raha was asking for it.” Moonflower laughed. “It was fun though, yes. And it was nice of the others to join in too, even if they were strangers.”
“How many sketches did you do, Alphinaud?” Alisaie asked, leaning down to pick up a shell.
“Five, and I’m sure you’ll like them.” It was nice that they’d come along and were actually talking with him like this. With a laugh, he described their antics from his viewpoint under the umbrella, making the other two giggle. He felt a bit silly for feeling lonely earlier, but since it compelled him to spend time with them, maybe it hadn’t been childish.